Currently I use Howler Pro (http://howler.foxnsox.com/) to set up cascading timers for all of my hop additions; when the first timer goes off it triggers the second, when the second goes off it triggers the third, etc. It works just fine, but I have to manually set up the multiple timers for every brewday.

It would be great to have a global Brewday Timer built into BTP that would automatically get the time(s) from the recipe; anything that appears as a Boil (Kettle) step would be included. Start the timer at the beginning of the boil and BTP would alert you to each addition until :00 (with an option to pause the countdown in case you get interrupted, etc.).

There could also be a supplemental manual timer(s) for things like the whirlpool hop stands, etc. and maybe a :10 alarm for chillers, yeast nutrient, Whirlfloc, etc.

You could even pull time data from the mash schedule and include that in the Brewday Timer, although that is obviously less critical than hop additions.

IMO it's one of the very few things BTP doesn't do (and should) -- BTP is such an all-inclusive brewing solution across the board, it makes everything about recipe formulation, inventory tracking and brewday consistency (OG, volumes, etc.) so easy.

Just to put it out there, BTP is starting to feel a little abandoned... the folks at Beersmith are very active, lots of updates to the app, they have a booth at every NHC, really promote the product (and, as a result, dominate the market for homebrew software). From what I've seen I think BTP is overall a better product but the gap is closing rapidly...

I agree, jawbox. BTP is best brewing software out there, but the water calulator needs some work. It should consider the grist in it's calcualtions, and if you acidify your mash or sparge water you should be able to add liquid ingredients (lactic or phosphoric acid) and have those calculated too. For those reasons I use Bru'n Water. Getting back on topic, I've never seen the need for timers in brewing software. Perhaps that's because I have one I wear on my wrist.

I use Bru'n Water too, by far the most comprehensive and accurate water chemistry tool out there. (Be sure to send him some money for all of his hard work!)

My concept for the timers is that the software already knows exactly when everything should be happening, so it's just one less thing for the Dumb Human to worry about on brew day.

(I will admit to being a less-than-calm guy on brewday, I'm often running around looking for something I forgot, fixing something that suddenly broke -- or trying to, anyway -- and so on. So anything that can take even a tiny part of load off of me is a great idea IMO!)

How many of you are using a computer, either a laptop or desktop, in the vicinity where you brew? The reason I ask is that I would like to determine the best way to deliver a brewing timer feature. Personally, it would be impractical for me to have a brewing timer on my desktop or laptop computer so I am inclined to add this to the BTPconnect web app. I open that up on my phone while I’m brewing since I brew outside on my patio. Does anybody else do the same?

No one wants that to happen although I use the system as you do currently, I would prefer an actual android app which simply links to BTP so I can utilize on my tablet (easier to see and easier to clean than my cellphone....)

I'd be more than happy having the timers on my iPhone rather than on the laptop; I take the laptop out to the brewery with me on brewday, but if I need to walk away I don't take it with me (but my phone is always in my pocket so I'd still be able to easily check when my next hop addition is coming, etc.)

I’m working on that today, actually. It will be pretty simple to start—basically a timer display with the name of the current step and the next step. I am still deciding how to incorporate the elapsed and remaining timers. The first option is to display one at a time with the option to switch between them, or the second option is display both at the same time with one bigger than the other.